Just so you know, I’m not a stalker…though he hasn’t returned my five-hundred-and-eighth phone call and I’m starting to get twitchy. Anybody know where he lives?

What were we talking about again?

I’m a fan of Dr. Esselstyn because he’s honestly given me another option…something OTHER than bypass surgery or further stenting. One day, I hope to be free of the medications, too.

I’m always encouraged when I hear him speak about his passion. With every appearance, I’m reminded of the growing research data he’s amassing with each new patient. With every appearance, another success story…another person given a new lease on life.

This is a great condensed version of his research and results. I know that not all of you four faithful readers suffer from Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) the way I do, but it’s good to be armed with information. The western diet is dangerous, and I hope this encourages you to leave it behind for good…for YOUR good.

After receiving the first two of my six cardiac stents, my doctor told me about the copious amounts of plaque in my arteries.

“What can we do about that?” I asked.

“Nothing,” he replied. “You’ll have that the rest of your life.”

I’ll never forget how helpless I felt at that moment. It was truly debilitating, and made me deeply concerned for my future.

It was a year or more after that incident that I saw Forks Over Knives for the first time. And in that film, Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn called Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) a “toothless paper tiger,” saying we need not fear it as we have for years because spinach is a brutal, plaque-destroying ninja. Well…he didn’t say THAT, but you get the idea.

I remember being impressed and enlightened, but I wasn’t ready to make the change yet. I didn’t think it was necessary at the time.

Oh, if I could go back in time and punch myself in the face.

Lee Fulkerson’s Forks Over Knives is simply THE best documentary on the benefits of a plant-based whole foods diet. The interviews are thorough (there’s even a separate documentary with extended interviews), the research is thorough, almost to the point of being overwhelming, and the experts are well-versed and have been studying in excess of 25 years on this topic. The information is relevant and engaging and can honestly change your life.

Why should you not eat meat? Why should you not drink milk? Why is the standard American diet killing a greater number of Americans each year? All of these questions are thoroughly and scientifically answered in this documentary.

The film focuses on the research of Dr. Esselstyn (mentioned ad nauseum ad infinitum on this site) and T. Colin Campbell, who was a part of The China Study, the largest and most comprehensive national health study ever devised. In the study, Campbell and Chinese researchers were able to see that in provinces where meat and dairy was more a part of the daily diet, there was also a higher rate of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and mortality. It was the first time scientists were able to see such results on such a large scale.

Campbell explains why the chemicals in meat (cholesterol) and dairy (casein) cause problems in the human body, and in what ways they can actually spur disease. Esselstyn’s research specifically focuses on a strict cardiac diet (which I’m now following) that allows the body to repair the lining of the arteries and allow plaque to be broken up and carried back to the liver. Both are very calculated and specific in their claims, and cite the data to back them up.

In addition to the doctors (some six or seven respected doctors all told), the film interviews some of Esselstyn’s patients, some of whom were basically told to go home and wait to die because of their diagnoses. Their stories are inspirational and honest. They acknowledge the struggles and celebrate the victories, some of which come from their simply being alive.

Fulkerson himself goes vegan during filming and gets some comparative numbers before and after the change. Even during his short experiment, his health improves enormously.

I’m honestly at a loss to tell you how vital this documentary is to your way of thinking about health and nutrition. The information contained within is truly life-altering and I can’t recommend seeing it enough. I’ve seen it three times at least, and I find something new and refreshing every time. It reminds me why I’m on my journey and continues to give me hope that I’ll overcome this disease.

I really hope it will do the same for you…all four of you faithful readers.

If you’ve struggled with obesity and the the foods that help it along, you’ve heard this trite cliche from a host of “normals” who don’t struggle the way we do. They pass it along anyway…probably mindlessly to a degree. It’s just one of those things you say, I guess.

For me, however, it’s become a life-giving mantra. It’s the morning hymn that informs my breakfast. It’s the paean call of my lunches and dinners. It is my true North, navigating me through the seas of social gatherings and restaurant visits. It is the evening sunset that strengthens my resolve and reminds me to prepare for another day. It moves me forward, always.

Please do not misunderstand, however. I don’t presume to have figured it all out. I don’t struggle with food and the complex emotions that surround it the way some do. I don’t claim to be a psychologist or nutritionist of any stripe. I’m honestly just a normal guy — thin most of my life — whose horrible eating habits and sedentary lifestyle lulled me into a state of morbid obesity which nearly took my life.

And after some 30 hospital visits, four heart catheterizations, six stents and a battery of heavy meds — all before finishing my 40th year on earth, mind you — I realized it all had to change.

“Why not change after visit number TEN, Brainiac?!”

Yeah, I ask myself the same question all the time. The simple answer is…I didn’t want to change. Not enough. I didn’t have my Ebenezer.

Ever hear of an Ebenezer? It’s a line from an old church hymn and older Bible story, which basically points to a symbol of a fresh beginning. It’s an object on which one could look and say, “Remember how things were bad? And remember how we erected this stone when we started working to change? Yeah. That was awesome.”

Like that, but, you know…meaningful.

My Ebenezer came on New Year’s Day, 2013. I was recovering from my stent procedure, and the cardiologist came in and drew me a picture, included in this entry. It showed me where all my stents had been placed and the level of disease in my heart. More than that, he explained what my future might look like if my lifestyle wasn’t drastically altered.

It was grim.

The inside of my coronary arteries, he explained, looked a lot like a dirt bike track. This “lumpy, bumpy stuff” was everywhere, and further blockages were inevitable. Maybe.

By this time, I had seen the documentary, Forks Over Knives and my cardiologist mentioned “a doctor at the Cleveland Clinic” who was doing some research on heart disease and nutrition. He was talking about Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, who has shown in a 25-year-study that nutrition can not only halt heart disease, but actually reverse it in terminally diseased patients. You can hear some of their stories in Forks Over Knives.

When I returned home from the hospital, I read Esselstyn’s book, Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease from cover to cover. I was sold. Nutrition could keep me off the bypass surgery table? My choice was clear: eat right or have my chest cracked open. Eat to live. Don’t live to eat.

What does “Eating to Live” look like?

Well…basically, I don’t eat anything with a face. I don’t eat anything that had a mother. No meat. No dairy, which cuts out milk, cheese, ice cream, sour cream and the like. No oil of any kind, whether from olives, canola, coconuts, peanuts or any other vegetable. No oil. NO. OIL. It damages the endothelium in my arteries and exacerbates my Coronary Artery Disease. I also stay away from high fat veggies and legumes like nuts and avocados.

It is restrictive? Yes, it really is, but I’ll also tell you that I LOVE what I eat. The food I eat is delicious, filling and ultimately satisfying. Oh, and I eat as much of it as I want (with the exception of fruit…can’t overdo it on the sugars or you’ll start putting the pounds on).

Since beginning this journey back in 2011, I’ve lost 85 lbs, 46 of which I’ve lost since adopting Dr. Esselstyn’s lifestyle plan in January 2013. It’s a long journey for sure, but the old saying “one day at a time” is really the way it works. You just go from day to day, doing what you know you have to do.